Virginity is more complex than just the first time someone experiences sexual intimacy. It can be about religion, social construct, falling in love, and to some what's supposed to happen after prom night. It's complex but one thing about it has always remained simple in the eyes of religious individuals, sex before marriage is a sin. Elna Baker's confession to her Mormon parents about losing her virginity before marriage in "To Russia With Love" shows the story of a woman afraid of being disowned for not sticking to the faith that she was once raised in.

Complex or simple Baker tells that when you're away from the environment you were raised in you make decisions your parents wouldn't approve of When you come back it puts into perspective how the decisions you've made when you became your own person and gathered your own faith can jeopardize your family dynamic. Baker ultimately wants the audience to know that although it may feel like it, who you choose to be and what you choose to do doesn't mean it's wrong because you're not the person your parents wanted you to be.

In the beginning of her confession, she opens up about her parent’s views on sex before being wed. Having mormon parents the answer is crystal clear, sex before marriage is a ticket of sin to the gates of hell. However, for her parents it's more than just one of the sins, "Mormons believe a very specific thing, which is that sex before marriage is the second most serious sin next to murder. Murder, a terrible thing.  Sex, something that-as it turns out-is pretty great." Baker understands the full extent of her parent’s opinion on sex before marriage being unethical, but not only do they find it unethical but also practically as dreadful of a sin as murder. Although Baker disagrees and finds sex to be not only acceptable but also enjoyable, her parents opinion has clearly instilled fear and regret in her decisions because she can no longer follow the path they wanted for her. Losing her virginity before marriage is something she can't take back even if she wanted to. That fear of her parents finding out she turned her back on mormonism instead of following their preferred life choices is what has prevented her from speaking her truth before she has. She's certain they won't accept her life choices but she has to let her parents know her true self, a person who doesn't hold the same values as them.

Once Baker has confessed to her parents their reaction makes her fear she should’ve never left the faith. Unable to look her parents in the eyes and confess, she calls to tell them what she deems is necessary for her parents to know. Rather than disowning Baker, her parents tell her they are unsupportive of her decision and believe it will lead her to an unhappy life, but no matter what they love her. The reaction was better than she expected but still disappointing to hear. Baker begins to think about the impact of her decisions on her family's dynamic when she's unallowed to enter the church to attend her sister's wedding because she is not a mormon, she wonders "What if Mormonism is true? What if everything I was given was the truth and I'm the one walking away from it? Is this what the afterlife is going to feel like? My entire family is together, happy, in this beautiful, glowing, white, majestic place, and I'm in a bridesmaid's dress-in the parking lot-for eternity?" Her becoming isolated so quickly for leaving the faith has left her to feel that her parents were right and she's ruined any chance of a beautiful afterlife. She feels like an outsider in a place she was once embraced and it's overwhelming. Once she lost her virginity she was only halfway out the door, but her parents didn't know so they didn't treat her differently and still accepted her. However, once she was completely out the door that feeling of not being able to walk back in made her wonder if her choices were worth being kicked out for. Whether she was in the wrong because her parents and sisters' faith in Mormonism let them into the church while she has been painted as the black sheep. If her new life that her parents don't accept or understand is because it is wrong or because it's different.